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Registered Member #125
Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 01:52PM
Location: Aalborg, Denmark
Posts: 155
Hi All,
I am done with the cooling system for Diable Tonnere, and I have a question about the cooling fluid. The thing is that I have some speculations on corrosion in the system, because there is brass, copper and aluminum in it. I am thinking about using glycol and battery water as the fluid, but is there anything better out there?
I`not into all this computer fluid that glows in the dark, and it is rather expensive...
It is a closed system, and I don't want to change the water every half year, as the coil just stands in our workshop the most of the time doing nothing...
Registered Member #1623
Joined: Tue Aug 05 2008, 03:31PM
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 39
Distilled water and coolant for cars works very well too, and its very cheap. An other advantage is that (at least with the mix I've once used) is that the water is non conductive, which is a great plus. The only downside is that you usually have strange colered water (most coolant here is pink).
Registered Member #902
Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: North Texas
Posts: 1040
Daniel Uhrenholt wrote ...
Hi All,
I am done with the cooling system for Diable Tonnere, and I have a question about the cooling fluid. The thing is that I have some speculations on corrosion in the system, because there is brass, copper and aluminum in it. I am thinking about using glycol and battery water as the fluid, but is there anything better out there?
I`not into all this computer fluid that glows in the dark, and it is rather expensive...
It is a closed system, and I don't want to change the water every half year, as the coil just stands in our workshop the most of the time doing nothing...
Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers, Daniel Uhrenholt
you can get the non-glow in the dark kind and I do believe that most of those bottles are mostly for Concentrates, not the final solution. But I could be wrong, you might check because if it is a concentrate it is not very expensive (I think a bottle here in the US goes for about $15 for the premium brand, I'd imaging the basic stuff would be cheaper)
if you cut anything with Distilled Water make sure you have thoroughly cleaned your system as the ionic compounds that could have settled in or other things like metal particles will make the water conductive again.
as for glycol, that seems the way to go, and I think some commercial solutions use a similar mixture.
I personally have laptops for all of my work and have yet to get water cooling for them (but yes, they do have that!)
Registered Member #2028
Joined: Mon Mar 16 2009, 08:13PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 319
If you decide to go for normal engine coolant, remember you can get cooling fluid made especially for aluminium engine blocks. I'd also advice you to replace the fluid every 2-3 years, it becomes more corrosive in time.
But just a thought, if you want to fill and forget, and never worry about corrosion or other galvanic reactions, perhaps a thin oil would be more suitable?
Registered Member #56
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445
Do not use DI water, unless you at least add some radiator fluid, because DI water is actually very corrosive-anything other than plastic and stainless/gold will get eaten up.
You can use normal tap water, it usually has enough chlorine in it to keep it from growing stuff but it doesn't hurt to add a little algaecide.
IF you system has different metals that are electrically connected to each other you will be fighting corrosion with anything other than oil, or some other hydrocarbon.
The best bet is radiator fluid diluted with tap water per the instructions, but as has been mentioned already the corrosion inhibitors will get used up eventually. As long as there is good sized reservoir and not a lot of surface area it should last a good 5-10 years though.
Registered Member #2261
Joined: Mon Aug 03 2009, 01:19AM
Location: London, UK
Posts: 581
I used to run my copper/brass PC liquid cooling system on DI water. Worked fine. If my home made system had included a reservoir I'd have added some DI resin in the bottom to keep the water polished, but even without that it was fine. Maybe adding aluminium to the system would have caused problems, I don't know, but I don't see how: if the water is ion free it's a rubbish electrolyte, surely?
Registered Member #2998
Joined: Tue Jul 13 2010, 08:34PM
Location: Swedish forests.
Posts: 26
IntraWinding is correct. I can't fathom where " ... " (get a username, will ya?) got the idea that DI water is corrosive. Distilled = Deionized and vice versa, correct?
And the glycol is actually important: It will keep oxygen out of the water and make the water less susceptible to take up ions alike. Compercial ethylene glycol usually have some neat corrosion inhibitors in it as well that might be beneficial.
I personally don't give a crap about the colour, but if you want your system to last long I'd actually just skip any colouring to be on the safe side. The less variables, the better. Since these concentrates are meant to make computers look cool, and computers only operate at about 20 volts, you might have a problem with the colouring at higher voltages.
Registered Member #1361
Joined: Thu Feb 28 2008, 10:57AM
Location: Cairns, Australia
Posts: 305
Most pumps would still be OK with pumping oil, I would say that would be your best bet. As for it leaking if something breaks, if the oil is thick enough, it won't leak out nearly as fast as any other fluid.
Registered Member #902
Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: North Texas
Posts: 1040
HVgeek wrote ...
IntraWinding is correct. I can't fathom where " ... " (get a username, will ya?) got the idea that DI water is corrosive. Distilled = Deionized and vice versa, correct?
And the glycol is actually important: It will keep oxygen out of the water and make the water less susceptible to take up ions alike. Compercial ethylene glycol usually have some neat corrosion inhibitors in it as well that might be beneficial.
I personally don't give a crap about the colour, but if you want your system to last long I'd actually just skip any colouring to be on the safe side. The less variables, the better. Since these concentrates are meant to make computers look cool, and computers only operate at about 20 volts, you might have a problem with the colouring at higher voltages.
actually, I always forget this but I was wrong too: Distilled /= (does not equal) Deionized. I remember because you can get both kinds in terms of chemical wise, but only distilled in places like stores. The distilled still shouldn't be so corrosive, but maybe because it has no balance of ions it will certainly pick up a supply from metal surfaces? - I'm not sure, but I do remember there being some kind of difference between the too, though I think distilled water should work if mixed with something (of course never use it on it/s own, as it will pick up ions and become conductive)
i still think you should go with the stuff for computers as you can get a good price, as a dilutable concentrate, and you know it is designed for this, but that's up to you.
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Question about watercooling fluid.
